AAI inks tripartite deal; Pondy airport set to take off in Jan

A Tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Puducherrygovernment, Civil Aviation Ministry and Airports Authority of India in New Delhi on Friday to operationalise the Puducherry airport in January next.

A release from the office of the Chief Minister said, “The process to operationalise the flights is likely to be completed and flight operations would be started by January 2017.”

According to the release, Puducherry government has proposed to have air connectivity to and from nearby cities, mostly lying within 500 km radius, and “the cost of fare is going to be only Rs 2,500 which is certainly affordable.”

The government felt that this would give a big boost not only to the flow of tourists into Puducherry but would also give a fillip to industrial investment in the Union Territory.

The release claimed that it would pave the way for making flying affordable for the travellers.Puducherry already has a modern and full-fledged airport although it is underutilised now, it said.

By conceding certain concessions as required under the MoU, the Puducherry government has ensured that regular flights will not only operate from Puducherry to other destinations, the flight service would also be affordable to common people, the release claimed.

It described the inking of the MOU as a “historic phase of development in aviation sector for Puducherry.”

The release said the tripartite MoU was inked under “regional connectivity service”.

Chief Secretary to Puducherry government Manoj Parida signed the MOU on behalf of Puducherry government while Joint Secretary to the Aviation Ministry Usha Padhee and member of the AAI A K Dutta were the other signatories.